Gibsons Mayor Barry Janyk will stay in office for a fourth term after eking out a victory over challenger Gerry Tretick, and Bob Curry will remain on council, after a Monday recount boosted his vote total from 525 to 627 votes.
Janyk's 737 votes edged out Tretick's 703 tallies, while the referendum seeking Gibsonites' approval of borrowing $951,000 towards water metering and other projects passed, with 802 citizens in favour and 628 opposed. 1,459 voters showed up, good for a 41.7 per cent voter turnout in the Town.
"I'm really happy to be back as the mayor," said Janyk. "We're going to be in a much better position, and I'm looking forward to working with [Sechelt mayor elect] Darren Inkster."
Councillors LeeAnn Johnson and Chris Koopmans each earned a second term on council, with total votes of 780 and 629, respectively. Wayne Rowe, a member of the town's corporate services committee, also earned a seat with 722 votes. Janyk said the re-election of four out of the five current council members "speaks volumes as to the apparent satisfaction about the way things are going."
Janyk said he was "relieved and grateful" that voters ratified the water meter referendum, but noted the impact of the national economy will take a toll on Gibsons. He added he hopes to continue being the Town's representative on the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) board, a position he's held for the past eight years.
"The mayor is the logical candidate to be put on that board," he said. "I have earned the right to be at that table."
Koopmans said the upcoming term affords the town a chance to "be on a more sustainable path," connect community groups with council and "instill some new blood into the [SCRD board], which will hopefully translate into a better relationship." Though early results showed Kenan MacKenzie had gained a seat on council, his revised total of 610 votes leaves him in fifth place, beyond the reach of a council seat.
"I don't feel there was anything sinister there - it was a hard fought election and a close race," said MacKenzie. "Bob Curry has served the town well, and will continue to do so."
Three separate ballots were cast at Gibsons municipal hall, the Town's lone polling station: one for the mayoral candidates, one for council hopefuls and another on the referendum question. A routine double-check of tally sheets by deputy chief election officer Wendy Gilbertson on Monday showed at least five councillor tally sheets had been overlooked. The discovery triggered a comprehensive ballot recount, with new results being posted at 5:22 p.m. on Tuesday evening.
"The Local Government Act allows up until 4 p.m. on Wednesday to review these things in detail," said Jim Gordon, the Town's director of corporate administration and the chief election officer for the local election. "It's a fairly significant turnaround, but it's quite frequent that these things change."
By Tuesday morning, mayoral and referendum ballots had been recounted four times, while councillor ballots had been counted twice. As ballots were counted, new tally sheets were produced. With each sheet holding the results from 25 voters and 1,459 ballots cast, there were 59 tally sheets in total. Gilbertson said she estimates about one-quarter of those tally sheets were initially missed. "It's such a shuffle of paper - you've got eight people standing over your shoulder, and it's a little chaotic," she said, referring to the presence of candidates' scrutineers at the polling station.
A total of 19 mayoral ballots, 17 councillor ballots and 29 referendum ballots were rejected.
